Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Dumb and Dumber To’ Proves That It Pays to be Stupid

‘Dumb and Dumber To’ arrives two decades after the first film was one of the bigger hits of 1994 and no one knew what to make of it... until it topped the box office this weekend and made it look easy. Now, the idea of two middle-aged actors returning to two of the most idiotic characters in modern movie history doesn't seem so desperate and crazy. It seems canny.

Film

Weekend

Per Screen

1

Dumber and Dumber To

$36,000,000

$11,414

$36,000,000

2

Big Hero 6

$33,600,000 (-40)

$9,905

$109,243,000

3

Interstellar

$27,900,000 (-41)

$7,835

$96,519,000

4

Beyond the Lights

$6,400,000

$3,577

$6,400,000

5

Gone Girl

$4,400,000 (-29)

$2,246

$152,473,000

6

St. Vincent

$3,800,000 (-30)

$1,630

$33,032,000

7

Fury

$3,700,000 (-34)

$1,553

$75,831,000

8

Ouija

$3,000,000 (-49)

$1,259

$48,080,000

9

Nightcrawler

$2,850,000 (-47)

$1,355

$24,812,000

10

John Wick

$2,250,000 (-46)

$1,280

$38,942,000

‘Dumb and Dumber To’ opened to $36 million, making it one of the bigger hits for directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly in a long, long time. It’s also a return to form for Jim Carrey, who has spent the past decade bouncing between modest hits and absolute failures. It’s a shame that it took a long-delayed sequel to get a fire going under everyone’s careers again, but a hit is a hit is a hit. Right now, the big question is whether or not this kind of nostalgia-driven opening weekend can translate to lasting success. If people actually like this kind of throwback comedy, this thing has a shot at breaking $100 million. We’ll judge it more closely next weekend.

Last week’s pair of champions, ‘Big Hero 6’ and ‘Interstellar,’ held on strong in second and third place, grossing $33 million and $27 million. Those 40% drops aren’t great, but they’re totally expected. At this rate, the former has $109 million and the latter $96 million after two weeks and it’s hard to see how long and far either of them will go. ‘Big Hero 6’ is chasing the phenomenon that is ‘Frozen,’ and ‘Interstellar’ really wants some ‘Inception’ money. If both of these films grow strong legs, it’s easy to see both of them hanging around for a good long time. However, the arrival of ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1’ next week threatens to throw a wrench at everything in the top 10, but these two especially.

In fourth place, the only other new film of the week opened with a whimper. It’s easy to imagine an alternate universe where a properly marketed ‘Beyond the Lights’ opened big. However, on this particular Earth, it opened with a shrug-worthy $6 million.

In fifth place, ‘Gone Girl’ continued to truck on, taking in another $4 million for a $152 million total. Although it is definitely slowing down, the weekly percentage drop continues to be tiny. This one is going to hang around in the top 10 until December at this rate.

In the back half of the top 10, ‘St. Vincent’ was the real champion, dropping a modest 30% for a weekend gross of nearly $4 million. That brings the film’s current total to $33 million, cementing its place as one of the biggest sleeper hits of the year. Once again, a movie made for adults on a small budget does well. It’s a lesson that can’t be taught often enough.

The final stretch is fine. ‘Fury’ hit the $75 million mark, but it’s really slowing down. Any dreams of a $100 million gross are long gone, but that’s a respectable number. ‘Ouija’ is going to limp across the $50 million mark, which isn’t bad for a cheapie horror movie that no one really likes. ‘Nightcrawler’ and ‘John Wick’ are interesting cases. Neither film lit the box office on fire, but both have grossed a very respectable amount of money when you consider their budgets. In an era where all eyes on are on massive opening weekends, modest hits like this should be applauded.